Legally Blonde - Spring 2026

Plot Summary

Legally Blonde: The Musical follows Elle Woods, a fashionable UCLA sorority president who seems to have it all. Her life is upended when her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, dumps her instead of proposing. He claims he needs a ‘serious’ wife for his future career as a senator. Determined to win him back, Elle studies her way into Harvard Law School.

At Harvard, Elle is initially an outcast, mocked by her peers and Warner’s new fiancée, Vivienne Kensington. However, she finds support in Emmett Forrest, a hardworking teaching assistant, and Paulette, a quirky beautician. Elle eventually earns a spot on a prestigious internship under Professor Callahan to defend fitness mogul Brooke Wyndham, who is accused of murder.

During the trial, Callahan makes a lecherous move on Elle, causing her to temporarily lose faith. With encouragement from Vivienne and Emmett, Elle returns to the courtroom. She uses instinct, learning and her own specialised knowledge of hair care, specifically the ‘rules of perms’, to expose the real killer, securing Brooke’s acquittal.

In the end, Elle realises she is far more than a ‘blonde’ stereotype. She rejects a crawling Warner, discovers her feelings for Emmett, and graduates as class valedictorian. She proves that being true to yourself and being smart are not mutually exclusive, and that you don’t have to change who you are to be considered capable or intelligent.

The History of Legally Blonde

The story of Legally Blonde: the Musical is a journey from a self-published novel to a modern Broadway classic that became a cultural phenomenon, largely thanks to a groundbreaking partnership with MTV. The musical is based on the 2001 novel by Amanda Brown and the hit film starring Reese Witherspoon. The stage adaptation was crafted by a powerhouse creative team including Laurence O’Keefe (Heathers), Nell Benjamin (Mean Girls), a script by Heather Hach and Direction & Choreography by Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Hairspray).

After a brief out-of-town tryout in San Francisco, the show opened at the Palace Theatre on Broadway on 29 April 2007. The original cast featured breakout performances that are still legendary in the theatre community, including, amongst others, Laura Bell Bundy as Elle Woods (Tony-nominated). Unlike most Broadway shows of the time, Legally Blonde embraced television to harness its audience. In October 2007, the entire musical was filmed and aired on MTV. It was a massive hit, bringing Broadway to a younger demographic that couldn’t travel to NYC. Continuing its leverage of TV marketing, MTV aired a competition called Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods to replace Laura Bell Bundy when she left the show. The winner, Bailey Hanks, took over the lead role in 2008. While the Broadway production was a ‘fan favourite’ but didn’t win any of its seven Tony nominations, the West End production (which opened in 2010, starring Sheridan Smith) was a critical darling. It won three Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. Today, the show is one of the most frequently performed musicals in senior schools and colleges worldwide. Its themes of empowerment and ‘pink power’ have given it a lasting shelf life, with a major UK and Ireland tour currently running through 2026.

Director’s Notes

We have been blessed with a surfeit of brilliance in our current cohort of actors: incredible talent coming up from Lower School into Removes this year, tremendous Sixth Formers and exceptional Middles and Fifths. Especially girls. Boys too, of course. But a raft of exceptional female talent. So, what to choose? What piece would best serve the current collection of performers who want to participate in a major whole-school production?

It is always a challenge to choose well. There are many factors - not least trying to suit the actors in front of you but also themes which are appropriate, challenging, thought-proking; the availability of performing rights, casting requirements of the text, availability of set for hire (a significant consideration when coming offsite rather than producing in-house) and finding costumiers who can provide the necessary outfits for a cast of over fifty. Legally Blonde was an excellent fit: demanding and with suitable performance challenge for our excellent cast; highly energetic, very funny and with youth appeal in abundance. It was certainly met with great enthusiasm at the announcement and audition. And perhaps most importantly, a fantastic piece for female performers, thus playing to our current strength in casting. Granted, it’s not Les Misérables in terms of historic weight or tragic catharsis: it’s frivolous and fun, with great characters and important themes of female empowerment and the rejection of prejudice. But it does also come with a problem… “Gay or European?”

If you read Millie’s excellent leader, she dissects this sequence and its associated problems in eloquent detail, and needless to say, we have given significant thought to the appropriateness of the choice. Does the infamous courtroom routine, in which the witness’ nationality and sexuality are judged by his outward appearance, run the risk of giving rise to homophobic mockery or audience misinterpretation and even offence? Our answer was NO. It is a piece of theatrical parody, in which the stereo-typer not the stereotype, is being mocked. The foolishness and outright idiocy of the legal team as they pass judgment on Nikos based on his external characteristics, and the madness of the sweeping generalisation that all gay men and all European men are indistinguishable by appearance, is so ridiculous as to be recognised as satire. It is not Nikos who is being mocked, or what he represents. It is the idiots who would label him thus.

We are fortunate to feel that at Haileybury, we have gone beyond this: we are an inclusive, international community; we uphold values of acceptance and tolerance; we promote anti-racism and anti-homophobia, and we are confident enough in our progress in this regard to choose not only to stage the show but to keep the sequence intact. To embrace the conversation. And this brings us to the value of theatre and of the arts: to raise debate, to encourage discussion; to ‘hold as t’were a mirror up to nature’ and allow us to acknowledge our achievements and failings, even to laugh at them, so we may improve ourselves and our society in the process. In the spirit of The Book of Mormon, Jerry Springer the Opera, The Producers and all other brilliant theatrical satire, we invite you to join us as we walk the fine line of parody in the safe knowledge of solidarity.

Enjoy the show.

Jacob Thomas Director and Head of Haileybury Drama

Rehearsal Process

During the process, pupils have worked with a musical director, choreographer, assistant director and director to realise the movement, mime, dance, singing and acting challenges of the show. They have crafted characters, embraced collaboration and learned to trust, respect and support each other as a company.

Gay or

European?

Representation, parody and walking the fine line in theatre.

Legally Blonde’s courtroom number, Gay or European, serves as a masterful example of musical theatre satire, but it also walks a perilous tightrope of whether it shows progress and tolerance, or reinforces stereotypes of the ‘flamboyant’ nature of European men.

The core comedic device used is the notion that there is a link between sexual orientation and aesthetic signifiers. The central question is whether the sequence successfully ridicules the stereotyper, or accidentally validates the stereotype. The character of Nikos, who the song surrounds, is presented as having typical European mannerisms and clothing, which could perhaps be deemed ‘flamboyant’ or ‘camp’ by American standards. The song’s punchline is the courtroom’s inability to comprehend nuance, and shows how bigoted thinking reduces complex identities down to visual appearances. The musical debuted during a rapid period of queer visibility, where communities moved from presenting LGBT storylines as a punchline or a ‘special episode’ topic toward having sustained, multi-dimensional representation. Within this sequence, it was important to ensure the audience was not laughing with prejudice, missing the element of satire. When well-directed, the sequence forces dialogue on queer coding. The song argues that the only difference between ‘Gay’ and ‘European’ is the context through which the prejudiced viewer processes external information. The song is a comment on society as a rule, not making an observation about Nikos, but making an observation about how we approach and work around stereotypes. The number exposes absurdity and forces us to acknowledge stereotypes before we act on them. The song is a theatrical tightrope, and can only succeed if the audience’s laughter is directed outwards at the lawyers and their discriminatory checklist, and not inward at the heightened stereotype of Nikos’ character.

By Millie Whale Drama Scholar, Lower Sixth, Allenby Elle Woods

Cast

Elle Woods

Margot

Serena

Pilar

Emmett Forrest

Paulette

Professor Callahan

Warner Huntingdon III

Vivienne Kensington

Brooke Wyndham

Enid

Sassy Kate

Leilani

Gaelen

Bookish Kate

Saleswoman

Store Manager

Violinist

Waiter and Elle’s Dad

Elle’s Mom

Grandmaster Chad

Professor Winthrop

Professor Lowell

Professor Pforzheimer

Aaraon

Suzy Tepesh

Whitney

Harvard Student

Dewey

H&H salesgirl

Second Perfume Girl

Salesgirls

Kyle (the hunky UPS guy)

TV reporter

DA Joyce Riley

Nikos

Carlos

Kiki the colourist

Chutney Wyndham

Court Stenographer

Guard

Bookish Client

Cashier (and Delta Nu)

Millie Whale

Sophie Tong

Sabrina Quinlivan

Sophia Wylde

Jasper Harth

Ivy Fletcher

Rufus Kellie

Oscar Davison

Emily Polledri

Alice McKeown

Olivia Crone

Hailey Young

Sofiia Sergadeeva

Kalli Mager

Kyrah Brawn

Georgie Neuff

Hattie Middleton

Theo Baughan

Louis Tavana

Flo Cornell

Will Farrow

Samuel Kačmár

Daniel Hiscock

Jonathan Jarmer

Theo Baughan

Ria Patel

Georgie Button

Millie Hanlon

Thomas Axe

Savannah Gibbs

Emilia Schneider

Matilda Samuels

Henry Meredith

Catherine Hiscock

Amaziah Owusu-

Banahene

Will Farrow

Jonathan Jarmer

Isla Evans

Nataliia Voitenko

Matilda Samuels

Danny Hiscock

Viktoriia Grebeniuk

Honor Packer

Judge Lucy Shutes

Ensemble

(UCLA students, Frat

Boys and Frat Girls, Delta

Nus, Salon Folk, Harvard Students, Parade Folk)

Amelie Roche

Audrey Sallavuard

Betsy Hilliam

Carissa Wild

Catherine Hiscock

Charlotte Head

Daniel Hiscock

Emilia Schneider

Georgie Hart

Georgie Neuff

Harriet Middleton

Honor Packer

Isla Evans

Jonathan Jarmer

Kyrah Brawn

Louis Tavana

Lucy Shutes

Mabel Cornell

Matilda Samuels

Millie Hanlon

Nataliia Voitenko

Priscillia Lam

Ria Patel

Samuel Kačmár

Savannah Gibbs

Sofiia Sergadeeva

Sophia Fusco

Tess Holden

Thomas Axe

Valentina Bryce

Viktoriia Grebeniuk

Creatives

Director

Jacob Thomas

Musical Director

Jonathan Gibson-Smith

Choreographer

Katie Barrett

Haileybury Technicians

Toby Everett and Katie Kelson

Costumes

Margaret Bicknell at Thespis Costumes and Katie Kelson

Set provided by UK productions

Company Stage Manager

Toby Everett

Deputy Stage Manager

Kate Green

Assistant Stage Manager

Katie Kelson

Sound

Sam Auty

Sound 2

Johnny Royall

Lighting

Emma Daly

Drums in the band

Oscar Baggs

Stage Crew

Josh Cox

Follow Spot Operators

Fabian Cheung

Oliver Graham

Forthcoming Haileybury Events

Dance Show - The annual dance showcase, 18 March, 7.30 pm Big School

Lower School drama production

School of Rock by kind arrangement with Andrew Lloyd Webber Theatres, 7 - 9 May, The Ayckbourn Theatre.

Arts Week 15 - 19 June

•A Night on Broadway

•Immersive Shakespeare - Julius Caesar

•Drama Showcase

•Music Concerts

•Art Exhibition